Customer Reviews

Verdi - Macbeth / Sinopoli, Bruson, Zampieri, Deutsche Oper Berlin

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

While not perfect, this is a very good production of Macbeth. Mara Zampieri is an almost perfect Lady Macbeth, although her overdone facial expressions, while understandable in a theatre setting can be somewhat offputting in closeup. Her singing, however, meets the demands of the role quite well. Verdi wanted a singing actress who could express villainy in her voice rather than just a beautiful voice, and Zampieri fills this role well. Renato Bruson is also a very believable Macbeth. James Morris as Banquo is somewhat wooden, but the main, really the only major, drawback is Sinopoli. His conducting is quite good, but he hogs too much of the screen. The camera focusses on him not only in the overture and preludes to the various acts, but also at times when the chorus is singing on stage. While obviously the conductor is important in every opera, it is the action on stage that one wants to see, not the conductor, especially a hyperactive one.

This production from Berlin in 1987 finds conductor Sinopoli and team in good form. Sinopoli's conducting is very rhythmic and exciting overall, but tends to be somewhat rushed in places. The orchestra and chorus do a good job and one can hardly fault the ensemble work of all the performers involved.

The production is traditional (and also minimalist). Yes, true emotion is seldom touched on here, but I'd rather have this type of melodramatic approach than the kind of contrived production 'concept' to which one is so often subjected. The costumes are realistic to the period, but it is a very static production: note that as the aria begins the character usually takes centre stage! That being said, I have to mention that there is something very effective about dressing Macbeth and Lady M almost entirely in red: to indicate the innocent blood they will/have shed?

Renato Bruson as Macbeth sings the role very well, and one wonders if anyone can surpass this achievement. However, do not expect a dramatically compelling interpretation.

Mara Zampieri has a sinister enough voice for Lady M. She has a magnificent technique: good coloratura and an exceptional trill. For me her interpretation does not match Callas's Lady M, as Zampieri lacks two things: she is often out of tune on acuti and her interpretation is not very subtle. And nit-picking: she omits the top D-flat in the sleep-walking scene. Nonetheless, we can be grateful for her presence in the cast.

The supporting cast, which includes James Morris and Denis O'Neill, sing well, and I cannot think of better 'comprimarias' than those two.

"Macbeth", for me is not a very easy work, like "Trovatore", "Otello" or even "Don Carlos", to understand and love. But with "Macbeth" (specifically in Lady M's music) Verdi holds up a beacon of things to come from his gifted pen.

This production from Berlin in 1987 finds conductor Sinopoli and team in good form. Sinopoli's conducting is very rhythmic and exciting overall, but tends to be somewhat rushed in places. The orchestra and chorus do a good job and one can hardly fault the ensemble work of all the performers involved.

The production is traditional (and also minimalist). Yes, true emotion is seldom touched on here, but I'd rather have this type of melodramatic approach than the kind of contrived production 'concept' to which one is so often subjected. The costumes are realistic to the period, but it is a very static production: note that as the aria begins the character usually takes centre stage! That being said, I have to mention that there is something very effective about dressing Macbeth and Lady M almost entirely in red: to indicate the innocent blood they will/have shed?

Renato Bruson as Macbeth sings the role very well, and one wonders if anyone can surpass this achievement. However, do not expect a dramatically compelling interpretation.

Mara Zampieri has a sinister enough voice for Lady M. She has a magnificent technique: good coloratura and an exceptional trill. For me her interpretation does not match Callas's Lady M, as Zampieri lacks two things: she is often out of tune on acuti and her interpretation is not very subtle. And nit-picking: she omits the top D-flat in the sleep-walking scene. Nonetheless, we can be grateful for her presence in the cast.

The supporting cast, which includes James Morris and Denis O'Neill, sing well, and I cannot think of better 'comprimarias' than those two.

"Macbeth", for me is not a very easy work, like "Trovatore", "Otello" or even "Don Carlos", to understand and love. But with "Macbeth" (specifically in Lady M's music) Verdi holds up a beacon of things to come from his gifted pen.

Giuseppe Sinopoli's untimely death was a great loss to the music world. A tremendous, sensitive interpreter of Italian opera, this video DVD is a valuable document of his art and should be so treasured. We are fortunate that it shows a great deal of his conducting, his careful attention to detail, emotional involvement and communicating power. Notice for example the finale of the first act, the breathtaking `a capella' ensemble with the heartbeat- like tympani accompaniment later joined by the orchestra with a beautiful melody that seems to descend straight from heaven.
Macbeth is an important work in Verdi's opus. Here he used Shakespearean text and attempted serious characterization for the first time. He took great pains for the parts of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth as well as the chorus of the witches and understood the meaning of the play perfectly which in turn reflected in the characters and the music as well.
The two principals are beyond praise. Renato Bruson is one of the greatest baritone of our time with strong and sensitive voice. His forte is powerful but he is also capable of true pp singing and his characterization is a marvel. Maria Zampieri is literally "fire eating" in the Callas sense in her formidable role, but signs of strain are noticeable at times. Still...it's quite an experience to watch and hear her. Her eyes seem to have a life of their own.
The lesser roles..... James Morris, the great bass-baritone from the Met has good voice and sensitivity for the tragic Banquo , while Dennis O'Neill is fine in the 'one aria' tenor role, as Macduff.
Production of the Deutsche Oper is suitably sparse with aptly blood-red costumes for the principals. Background of dark blue emphasizes the red and is very effective.
All in all : a great video, well directed with excellent sound and picture quality. Go for it!

Verdi's 'Macbeth' premiered in Florence's Teatro della Pergola in 1847 is the first of his operas to show his genius n full flight. even the musically less satisfying original version stands head and shoulders above the previous operas and had Verdi only lived the same lifespan as Mozart it would have gone down to posterity as his masterpiece. The deutsche Oper Berlin does justice not only to Verdi but to Shakespeare. In Florence the composer urged the singers to 'better serve the Maestro's poet@ i.e Shakespeare, an injunctioned the present cast have followed to the letter. Renato Bruson and Mara Zampieri portray a guilty couple haunted by the consequences of their actions and darken their tone accordingly.Zampieri in particular invites comparison with Shakespearean actresses in the role rather than her soprano colleagues (compliment intended) and in terms of vocal colouring far outshines the grossly overrated and (in this role) pedestrian Maria Callas. Only Shirley Verrett in the DG CD recording of the opera and Josephine Barstow on the Glyndebourne DVD comes within a roar of her in this role. Renato Bruson as her consort sings and acts magnificently. Only Capuccilli on the DG CD proves any sort of a rival. Dennis O' Neill and James Morris as Macduff and Banco prove far more than mere comprimari and make one wish their roles were more substantial. The chorus is equal to the herculean task allotted it by Verdi and the staging is solid if old fashioned. The late Giuseppe Sinopoli finds new things to say about the score. All in all, this is a 'Macbeth' worthy of both Verdi and Shakespeare.

Zampieri's Lady Macbeth is greater than Callas'! Even Toscanini (who as a traditionalist wasn't one of Callas' fans) found her timbre suitable for Lady Macbeth and wanted to do it with her (she did not express interest in singing for him). This was one of callas' greatest interpretations - very strong on melodrama - and Zampieri is the first to surpass it! Zampieri's hypnotic, analytic, 100% pitch controlled singing/acting projects the cold-blooded murderess and the sense of horror. With conductor Sinopoli the concentration is intense and the singers really reflect on every note. I feel that those who refuse to accept that Zampieri is a great modern dramatic star are reactionaries. Why, oh why doesn't she record more? Is she related to the tenor Giuseppe Zampieri who was active in the 50's and 60's (he sang the Italian singer in the film version of Der Rosenkavalier for Karajan)?

It is not often that I enjoy watching an opera on DVD from beginning to end, but this one offered truly a unique experience. Filmed during live performances, one has a sense of being part of a live event. The production is somewhat conservative but visually impressive and always stimulating. Sinopoli's conducting is totally electric and one forgives the occasional excursions of the camera away from the stage to the conductor's face which appears to animate everything else. Tragic but not altogether hard to believe that this fascinating conductor would be dead of a heart attack a few years later.

Zampieri - a real comet; she came, dazzled and disappeared. I have no knowledge of any singer who could perform Lady Macbeth like her today.Vocally her performance is stunning. A tight voice, highly focused that seems to come from the core of her being, always a whisker from disaster, it creates the perfect impression of a woman on edge; a frustrated, a brilliant, a childless woman, who can only reach fulfilment through her husband's grasp of power. It is also a sexy voice, a quality one very rarely encounters in a soprano (not so rarely in a tenor of Corelli's ilk). Having heard the CD version (also very impressive) and not seen Zampieri, I was interested to see what she looked lile on stage. The answe is that she is quite magnificent. The facial expressions are full of different nuances, fear, anger, ambition, contempt, hate, pride - she can do them all to perfection. Here the DVD comes into its own since the facial close-ups, even when she singing, are really thrilling. You really want to see what this woman does next.

Renato Bruson is the perfect Macbeth to Zampieri's Lady. A weak, troubled man, whose touch with power unleashes great change inside him, he sings and looks the part and rises to real greatness in his moment of destiny, after the death of his lady. His singing is peerless - the legato perfect (the product of incredible breath control), the pianissimi rounded, quiet and audible and the outbursts of anguish always musical and psychologically convincing. I have never seen a singer sweat on stage as much as he does during this performance - this is totally appropriate and the sweating never seems to interfere with his vocal production. A real masterclass of baritone singing.

The other parts are very well sung (including the witches). A minor complaint is that the sound quality could have been better. All in all, this is a special treat.

I am concerned that US opera lovers can only acquire this at a very inflated price. I notice that UK Amazon offers it at more reasonable prices and maybe US readers should try to acquire it that way.

This is definitely the least-boring MACBETH I've seen in a long long time. It's a very difficult opera to sustain, because the libretto reduces Shakespeare's articulate antiheros to cardboard; also, the mood remains the same throughout the piece, and, so much of the music is band-music, more or less brain-dead.

However, the two lead performers, Renato Bruson and Mara Zampieri, actually make these characters interesting. Renato Bruson is an excellent singing actor although he has been overhyped. He plays the piece as if it were a spaghetti-western, with a Clint-Eastwood-like squint and a rugged, bluff manner. He's much more interesting than, for instance, Piero Cappuccilli. And Mara Zampieri is a huge, penetrating vocal athlete, and a good operatic over-actor too. She sings with terrific legato line but also articulates the notes, and she is only very rarely off pitch. The two have good chemistry together.

Yes, the sets are dark and minimal as the other reviewer said, but that focuses our attention on the principals in their hot-orange/scarlet robes.

This is a very boring version of 'Macbeth'. Only Renato Bruson sings really well. Mara Zampieri is a good actress, but her voice wasn't in her best day. Neill Schicoff is really horrible here and James Morris isn't very well too.
Ronconi's production is really boring. There aren't anything in scene, only a real chair and some panels.
I don't like Sinoppoli very much.
In resume, don't spend your money with this, buy another version.

En español decimos "voz chillona" cuando el timbre es más agudo de lo necesario. Si hubiese recordado que la voz que no me dejaba llegar al final de la Fanciulla del West era la de esta misma cantante, no hubiese adquirido esta versión de Macbeth. Durante todo el tiempo no hago más que pensar cómo hubiese gozado escuchando a María Callas en un papel de tanta fuerza. Haré un esfuerzo nuevamente para degustar los intrigantes agudos de alguien que intriga tras el trono.